Heidelberg

Line & Tone, Target MergeNEW YORK—A little more than a year since it acquired Finley Digital Photographics, Line & Tone, based here, announced that it is merging with Target Graphics, of Boonton, NJ. Target Graphics and its art creation subsidiary, MediaLogix, are now wholly owned subsidiaries of Line & Tone. The transaction will see Line & Tone move its Parsippany and Mahwah, NJ, operations into Target's Boonton facility. Quad/Graphics Expanding PlantsPEWAUKEE, WI—Gammerler, a manufacturer of in-line finishing systems, announced it has been chosen by Quad/Graphics, headquartered here, to supply overhead conveying systems for Quad plant expansions in Martinsburg, WV, Saratoga Springs, NY, as well

An alphabetical guide to some of the major graphic arts industry organizations, including addresses, telephone/fax numbers, Web addresses and key contacts.

BY CHRIS BAUER Although it may not be as flashy as a star-filled TV commercial during the last episode of "Survivor" or halftime of the Super Bowl, many companies are finding refuge from high advertising costs in a weakened economy by going a more traditional and cost-effective route—newspaper inserts. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Livonia, MI-based Valassis Communications, a leading printer of coupons and newspaper inserts, reported it is reaping financial benefits from the slowing economy. As advertisers look for ways to lure customers into their stores with sales and other ways to save, Valassis is providing much of the printing of

BY ERIK CAGLE You won't see Jim Hopkins' face on the cover of Fortune magazine. His commercial printing company, Hopkins Printing, isn't likely to challenge Quebecor World, R.R. Donnelley or any other top 10-performer as an industry sales heavyweight. Hopkins Printing manages to fly under the radar screen, and chances are you've never heard of the 27-year-old, Columbus, OH-based establishment. Then again, Hopkins Printing has never laid off massive numbers of employees. You won't see any major restructuring because of missed quarterly revenue reports or disappointing stock valuation performances. His upper management team isn't a revolving door. There are no angry shareholders, no elimination

BY MARK SMITH It's the nature of the business for newspaper editorial departments to move from one crisis to the next. Unfortunately, market factors in recent years have forced their back offices to regularly function in crisis management mode, as well. Declining readership, drops in advertising revenues, the Internet threat (or opportunity), industry consolidation, volatility in newsprint prices, and more have made it a challenging business environment. The one bright spot has been the ability to maintain healthy profit margins. These business pressures have translated into an ever-greater need for flexibility on the production side. Newspaper plants can provide a competitive edge by

BY ERIK CAGLE Way back in the early days of the Internet, around the dark ages (late 1998), someone asked me, "Exactly what can you find on eBay?" Well, anyone who has visited the Internet auction Website behemoth will return volley by posing the following question: "What can't you find on eBay?" It seems that anything which can be stuffed in a box and have postage slapped on it would fit the description. Ah, but that's not entirely true. Automobiles, viking ships, even internal parts of the human anatomy (one such lot was quickly quashed by the site) can be found there. Founded

BY ALLAN MARTIN KEMLER NEW YORK—Last year at the On Demand Digital Printing & Publishing conference, the unofficial theme of the show was dotcom fever. Now that the fever has broken, the big bang buzz is all about paperless communication. But this isn't your father's "paperless office of the future," mind you. This is different. In the past, when the term "paperless office" was first being bandied about like a baby at a bridal shower, the term reflected the hazy euphoria associated with early computing. This time around, having had the benefit of a few more years of experience to refine its point of view,

Ray Frick's latest formula for rebuilding another printing company heavyweight is getting back to nature—organic growth. Not an easy task in a consolidating industry. BY ERIK CAGLE There is little doubt that Ray Frick enjoys a challenge, and no doubt in regards to his ability to conquer one. The CEO and president of The Lehigh Press, headquartered in Pennsauken, NJ, finds himself in familiar territory. For the third consecutive time in his career, Frick has orchestrated a commercial printer into the position of market leader. After a highly successful career progression with major, blue chip corporations, including DuPont and Donnelley, Frick built Banta

LOWELL, MA—DS Graphics is putting the finishing touches on a growth initiative to renovate the company on the inside and outside, including a new 135,000-square-foot plant and new equipment. The new facility features 50 offices; 24-foot-high ceilings in the warehouse for four-high skid storage and several thousand skid locations; Drexel forklifts, allowing narrow aisle maneuvering; six new loading docks; and the merging of all 130 existing employees back into one location. Among the new equipment are two eight-color Mitsubishi presses, two Heidelberg Digimaster 9110s, as well as Fuji digital color proofing and Saber direct-to-plate devices. New procedures and processes have produced record turnaround times and quality

Heatset web offset press manufacturers tackle burning issues BY CAROLINE MILLER Less waste, shorter runs and labor shortages are all issues that commercial printers who use heatset web offset presses must contend with on a daily basis. These issues, coupled with customer demands for better quality and lower costs, can quickly put web printers in the hot seat. It's enough to make anyone start to sweat. In response, heatset web offset press manufacturers are coming to the rescue, finding ways to put out the flames and respond effectively to these age-old problems. Several heatset web offset manufacturers were interviewed by Printing Impressions to discuss